Geographies of (Domestic) Alcohol Consumption

Recent work in this discipline and allied fields has helped to elucidate the significance of alcohol and other drugs (Duff, Soc Cult Geogr 13(2):145–159, 2012; Moreno and Wilton, Using space: critical geographies of drugs and alcohol, Routledge, New York, 2014; Proudfoot, Geogr Compass 11(7):1–11, 2017) for social, political, economic, and health geographies. In this chapter, I consider how the pandemic has accelerated the spatial reconfiguration of alcohol consumption towards the home. I then show how reactions to this trend reflect long-standing tensions around the pleasures and dangers of drinking. On the one hand, the pleasures of home drinking are seen as a necessary antidote to the stresses and strains of the pandemic. On the other, more home drinking raises the prospect of greater health and social harms in spaces that are often hidden from public scrutiny. I conclude with reflections on the long-term effects of these changes.